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December 19, 2019

CT Airport Authority considers advisory role to troubled Port Authority

Photo | HBJ File Connecticut Airport Authority Executive Director Kevin Dillon.
By Greg Bordonaro, Sean Teehan

The Connecticut Airport Authority (CAA) is considering taking on an advisory role to the state’s troubled Port Authority, which has come under fire for improper spending and mismanagement, sources confirmed to the Hartford Business Journal.

The quasi-public CAA’s board of directors is scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss the possibility of entering into a management services agreement with the Port Authority -- also a quasi-public agency -- during an executive session of a special meeting, said CAA Executive Director Kevin Dillon. 

“We’ve been approached by the state to consider whether or not we could share our best practices, and serve in an advisory role,” Dillon said. “[A management services agreement] would be something that we would negotiate with the state to determine to what extent we would provide administrative support.”

Today’s meeting will be the first time the CAA board will discuss the idea, and Dillon said he will gauge whether there’s interest among board members of taking on a support role at the Port Authority. 

The discussions do not include a potential merger of the quasi-public agencies -- at least for now -- which would require legislative approval.

Max Reiss, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont, who ordered an overhaul of the Port Authority last summer after reports from the New London Day of the group’s lavish spending and mismanagement, said the administration considers the CAA one of the best-run quasi-public agencies, which is why it is being considered as a Port Authority advisor.

“The state of Connecticut is trying to take the right steps forward to make sure the Port Authority is as successful as it could be,” Reiss said.

The talks come amid what has been a tumultuous year for the Port Authority, which is charged with overseeing development of the state’s Long Island Sound ports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London, as well as inland river ports.

The authority has been planning a $93 million investment at State Pier in New London to complement assembly efforts for a major wind generation project planned by Ørsted North America and Eversource in federal waters beyond Long Island Sound. 

Photo | Contributed
The Port Authority oversees the State Pier in New London.

Lamont’s overhaul of the organization included asking for and getting the resignation last summer of then-authority Chairwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder amid reports that the authority had paid $3,250 to her daughter for six professional photographs hung in the CPA’s Old Saybrook office. 

Lamont named David Kooris, deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, to replace Reemsnyder as acting chairman.

The governor also has directed staff from the state Office of Policy and Management and Connecticut Innovations — the state’s quasi-public economic development arm — to assist with policy development at the Port Authority. 

A subsequent audit found the authority spent thousands of dollars on expensive meals and liquor, incurred excessive legal fees and generally acted without clear policies governing purchases, personnel matters and ethics, the state auditors reported Thursday.

The auditors said “The lack of formal and complete written procedures increases the risk that CPA may not perform certain functions, or perform them inefficiently or inaccurately.”

Read more about the audit here. 


A Connecticut Mirror report was used in this story.

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